Elements of Military Art and Science eBook

[Footnote 27: The construction of the Illinois
ship-canal, for vessels of eight and a half feet draught,
is estimated at fifteen millions; to give the same
draught to the Mississippi and lower Illinois, would
require at least ten millions more; a ship canal of
the corresponding draught around Niagara Falls, will
cost, say, ten millions; the navy yard at Memphis,
with docks, storehouses, &c., will cost about two
millions, and steamers sent thence to the lakes will
cost about fifty thousand dollars per gun. On
the other hand, the military defences which it is
deemed necessary to erect in time of peace for the
security of the Champlain frontier, will cost only
about two thousand dollars per gun; the whole expenditure
not exceeding, at most, two millions of dollars!

It is not to be denied that a water communication
between the Mississippi and the northern lakes will
have great commercial advantages, and that, in case
of a protracted war, auxiliary troops and military
stores may be drawn from the valley of the Mississippi
to assist the North and East in preventing any great
accessions to the British military forces in the Canadas.
We speak only of the policy of expending vast sums
of money on this military (?) project,
to the neglect of matters of more immediate and pressing
want. We have nothing to say of its character
as a commercial project, or of the ultimate
military advantages that might accrue from such a work.
We speak only of the present condition and wants of
the country, and not of what that condition and those
wants may be generations hence!]

[Footnote 28: There are no books devoted exclusively
to the subjects embraced in this chapter; but the
reader will find many remarks on the northern frontier
defences in the histories of the war of 1812, in congressional
reports, (vide House Doc. 206, XXVIth Congress, 2d
session; and Senate Doc., No. 85, XXVIIIth Congress,
2d session,) and in numerous pamphlets and essays
that have appeared from the press within the last
few years.]

CHAPTER IX.

ARMY ORGANIZATION—­STAFF AND ADMINISTRATIVE
CORPS.

By the law of the 12th of December, 1790, on the organization
of the public force of France, the Army was defined,
“A standing force drawn from the public force,
and designed to act against external enemies.”
[Une force habituelle extraite de la force publique,
et destinee essentiellement a agir contre les ennemis
du dehors.]

In time of peace, the whole organized military force
of the State is intended when we speak of the army;
but in time of war this force is broken up into two
or more fractions, each of which is called an army.
These armies are usually named from the particular
duty which may be assigned to them—­as,
army of invasion, army of occupation, army of observation,
army of reserve, &c.; or from the country or direction
in which they operate—­as, army of the
North, of the South, of Mexico, of Canada, of the
Rhine, &c.; or from the general who commands it—­as,
the army of Soult, army of Wellington, army of
Bluecher, &c.